Why would a car dealership assume a 30-year old woman can't pump gas?

Gather round, it’s time for sexist story time 🙄
My beloved Fiat started doing a thing 5 weeks ago where it won’t let me pump gas - the pump clicks off after 1 to 3 seconds of filling. I can put gas in it, but I have to stand there clicking the pump for 15 minutes to fill it up.
I have had multiple men come up to me in gas stations and say, “honey, that means it’s full,” which makes me want to light them on fire.
I took my Fiat in to my mechanic on Monday and they looked at it (they were great but unable to determine the problem) and told me to take it to the Fiat dealer. Yesterday I took it to the dealer and got a call at the end of the day that the car was going to be ready that night for pick up. After I thanked them profusely I asked what was wrong with the gas tank. The manager tells me nothing is wrong with it and after I insisted there was a problem, he said I would need to come in the morning and one of his guys would go pump gas with me.
This morning I show up and one of the technicians drives me to the gas station and gives me a lecture on how to pump gas. I told him I’ve had this car for 6 years and haven’t had a brain aneurysm so I don't think it’s user error. He pumps the gas and of course it does the same thing to him and he is legitimately surprised.
They didn’t even check the problem out that I told them I was having. Now they’re running diagnostics which they didn’t do yesterday because they assumed I can’t pump gas????
After around five hours at the dealership I want to burn this place down with just the force of my fury.

Reminds me of the time I wanted to replace my license plate frame. Thing is, the bolts were rusted and no amount of power drilling would budge them. So I took the car in and asked for their help, explaining the situation. One of the guys grabs a screwdriver and says, "Not strong enough to get it off yourself, huh?" and attempts to manually turn these rusted screws. After he fails to turn them he looks genuinely perplexed. They eventually had to cut the bolts in order to remove the frame. Guess he wasn't strong enough to get it off either.

I had a bought off the dealers lot two year old Impala, under warranty that would drop gears. It was an automatic, it should not have happened ever. I took it in explained what it was doing and how it should be fixed before it gets worse.

NOPE. They couldn't replicate it, it was just me, etc. etc. Sure jerks.

Less than 6 months later the whole transmissions slips, no more gears. Fully covered by the warranty, fully showed my intuition was correct. It quadrupled the repair costs, which I didn't have to pay, plus they had to give me a loner. I was also around 30. Was the first and only car I bought myself new.

In this case they may have just likely saw it would fail completely soon, and wanted the bigger pay day from the warranty company. It happens a lot because of how warranty companies typically pay for things. The dealer lost nothing, and made a lot of gains.

This happened to me too. I had a 1997 Kia Sportage, fresh off the lot and about 2-3 years into it I got rear ended. The tire rack on the back pushed in the door, broke the window, and bumper. They towed it to a Kia dealer where they told my insurance they couldn’t find a used part so they were going to get a new door, etc. I noticed right away that the parts were not new, didn’t match colors at all and pointed it out to not only the dealer but the insurance guy while they were together. Got the major brush off. Then I mentioned that they needed to put the car up and test the frame otherwise I would be running through transmissions every other week. They told me there was no way a small rear ending would bend the frame and if I wanted it tested, I would have to pay for it out of pocket and if it showed the frame was bent, the insurance would reimburse me. Fresh out of college and new job did not equal the $$ needed for that. So I said “ok, you’ll see.” About 3 weeks after I get my car back “fixed” I notice the paint around the rear window is flaking off. Low and behold, it’s fire engine red underneath! I call the insurance company who says they will send the agent out. He’s shocked, and stammers that the dealer swindled them! I laugh and remind him I had pointed it out at the dealership. He of could doesn’t remember that. Then I tell him to get in the car and take a ride with me. We make it 4 blocks and he notices the sound the gears are making. He agrees to get the window and bumper fixed but denies the need to fix the transmission. In 3 months I went through 7 transmissions and because Kia had the warranty they did, I paid nothing each time and they had to give me a free rental. I kept telling them they should just total the car and get me a new one, it would be cheaper...but what do silly girls know?

My guess is that it was an AWD almost any difference of "pull" on the tires, like uneven tire pressure, alignment, balancing, suspension bending or axel movement will mess up the tranny normally in the long run.

PSA: if you need to get an AWD vehicle towed, make sure they use a flat bed tow truck or dollys for the car because the transmission WILL get fucked up in a couple miles.

Tweaks the frame putting the driveline out of alignment, binding the internals of the transmission causing premature failure. I'm betting that every time they replaced the transmission ( I refuse to type the word "tranny" and opening the door to a bunch of 12 year old Beavises) they had to force it to get every thing tightened up right.

I inherited my brothers Honda CRX. Standard, manual choke, carburetor. On a major cross country road trip it started to have some issues and I had to take it to a dealership. It was the weekend crew and the guy assigned to me went out to get the car. He came right back in as he couldn’t start the car. He kept telling me that no Honda was ever produced with a manual choke. He argued that I had had the car modified and that they couldn’t service it.

I walked out, started the car and got him to take it in. He diagnosed one problem ($$$) and I argued another ($). Both required a part that couldn’t be obtained on a weekend so the car stayed. All the while he talked down to me, claimed I knew nothing about cars, and doubling down that my car didn’t come factory with a manual choke and then added in the same for the carburetor.

Monday came and the service manager personally called me and asked me to come in to get my car. He came out to inform me my diagnosis of the issue was correct. Then he apologized for his staff members ignorance and attitude. Turns out cocky shit had run at the mouth about me to the whole staff at shift start. He then walked me into the garage and had the cocky shit explain he was wrong, my car was factory, he didn’t know how to start it, and apologize himself for his behaviour. In front of everyone.

I have had many sexist encounters like this over vehicles but this interaction had the biggest justice boner.

I had a gas station attendant stand and argue with me that diesel cars did not exist and that diesel was only for trucks and that is why they had a big rig nozzle on their green diesel pump. I told him he was losing a lot of sales and to check google if he didn't believe me. The man at the other pump was laughing at him the entire time. At least one of them wasn't a sexist moron.

Wife and I bought a Diesel Cruze a while back. I was doing a job that was about 30k-40k/yr miles, so it made sense. I ended up taking a company car that I can use as personal as well, so she got the Cruze.

I was worried she'd get hassled a lot. I know I got hassled a heck of a lot about it. Lots of stares too. Yeah, she gets hassled a lot. She just plays a "clueless" girl and finishes filling the car and drives off.

"Oh, I'm not supposed to? Oh ok thanks." She said she found that easier than explaining it's a diesel Cruze and she's in fact, fine. She said people would then start asking questions about the car and wanting to hear it start and run, etc.. But if she just acts dumb they leave her alone faster.

I remember when I had to argue with a service advisor at DCH Honda because he was adamant his techs couldn’t have caused my airbag sensor to go off and remain on. Reaaaaallllllllyyyyyyyy now, because if I recall I brought in my civic for the airbag recall. And what a coinky dinky, the sensor is now on.

He tried telling me that I’d have to pay out of pocket if they determined they hadn’t caused it, which he swore left and right they hadn’t. Had to resist throwing it in his face when he came back and admitted it was their mistake. Yea asshole... I told you since I brought my car in.

Edit. Initially I wrote remain off. Sensor was on and remained on after they’d fiddled with it.

I remember when I had to argue with a service advisor at DCH Honda because he was adamant his techs couldn’t have caused my airbag sensor to go off and remain off. Reaaaaallllllllyyyyyyyy now, because if I recall I brought in my civic for the airbag recall. And what a coinky dinky, the sensor is now on.

I argued for about 15 minutes with the service guy at my honda dealer. He was charging me 90$ for a tire change (I live in canada so I had to switch to winter tires) and I usually paid 60$ for it. He was adamant that it was impossible that I had ever paid 60$ for it. Had my husband call the service line to ask how much a tire change was; they said 60$. When I told him this, he said "Fine, I'll charge you 60$" as if he was doing me a great service. As he was ringing me up, I heard the other service guy talking to the lady next to me; 90$ was for a tire change on mags wheels, I had regular wheels. I get that you can make a mistake and think I have mag wheels, fall is a super busy season for them when everyone has to change their tires. But if he had only taken the time to tell me why he was charging me 90$, I could have told him I had regular wheels, but I think he was just trying to rip me off.

I'm almost 40, female, and out of 5 cars, all but one were a manual. Men act like idoits when they find out. The last time I got an oil change, none of the guys could pull my car in...really? You literally deal with cars all day, and no one can drive a manual?

Amen. I'm well aware that men are more likely to know cars than women. I get that it's still considered a "guy thing." But I'm sick and tired of men just straight up not listening to women, espically when it comes to cars. If you say, "I know how to drive a stick. There's a problem." you are completely ignored. If my father took a car in that was stalling, he wouldn't even have to say 'I know how to drive a stick." They'd just assume that he knows what he's doing. That's an obvious double standard, but beyond that, why isn't it enough for me to say, "I know how to ______." ? Why the disregard and disbelief?

My folks bought a Chevy S10 when I was in high school that I learned to drive on. They had it for a couple months and I was driving it when the seat suddenly went all the way back and I could barely push the clutch in far enough to shift.

Had my dad drive it and nothing happened. I drove it, and the seat went back. Dad said I must be doing something wrong till it happened to my mom, then he believed me.

Dropped off the truck at the dealer, explained the problem. Dealer called later that day saying it was fixed and come get the truck. I'm driving home and not 2 minutes after I leave the dealership, the damn seat slides back.

Turns out the dealer drove the tuck around, and like my dad, didn't have the seat slide back, so decided there was nothing wrong and it was my fault.

Well, my mom chews the dealer a good one (because I legitimately could've crashed if I had been on the freeway or something when this happened) and the dealer agrees to take the whole mechanism apart.

I forget exactly what the problem was, but it turned out that whatever was causing the seat to slide back was only triggered when the seat was forward a certain amount. So my dad and the dealer guy didn't have any problem because they already had the seat almost all the way back, but my mom and I with our short legs would have the seat way forward and that would trigger the problem.

It's been 15 years since that happened and I still think it's bullshit that they told me it was fixed when they literally didn't do anything to it. They just decided I was an idiot.

Got a flat on my previous Lexus IS350 that had aftermarket rims. I needed a thin walled socket, not a wheel lock key, not a standard tire iron... So I go into Firestone & tell the Tech in exact words but say I'm not sure what size the socket needs to be. First he tries to sell me a tire iron & says "Miss this is all you need, trust me." I calmly explain again about my European aftermarket rims... He sighs & says "Do you have a boyfriend or brother, maybe a dad who can help you out." I was beyond livid, speechless actually. I just walked out, went across the street to Discount Tire & explained the situation, sales guy calls in the tech who looks at my photo (of rims & lugs with my hand for comparison) and guys like "probably this size thin wall will work, I got one in the shop you can borrow if you wanna try it so you don't buy the wrong thing." - Just let's me borrow his tool, I come back with the tire, tool, and 3 dozen donuts.

When I told them what Firestone said they were appalled & couldn't believe he actually said that shit. I wrote Firestone corporate & because I am literally an SEO / Online reputation consultant, I made sure that Firestone was burned in reviews. The Discount Tire has a customer for life, and one who always, always brings snacks.

I had a transmission failure in my previous vehicle it was at 48k miles. The manufacture warranty stated the car's engine and transmission would be covered under warranty for 60k miles.

I took my car to the same dealership i purchased the vehicle. They took the car and it sat on their lot for about five days. The whole time i was without a vehicle, i couldnt drive to work and had to use Lyft instead.

After the five days, the service rep called me and told me that the he had one of the technicians drive the car around the block and said the transmission is messed up and that it would cost me 2k dollars for them to open up the tranny to take a look....

I basically died when he told me that. i said the car is under warranty! He said they have to open it up to look first in order to confirm. I told them i would call them back... in a frantic haze i called my family friend, who works in the industry, for advice. He told me to call other dealerships and tell them the problem. I confessed to him that i just wanted to pay them but he told me not to and to keep calling around.

I called two other dealerships and got the same answer.

The third dealership i called said no problem. Just bring in the car and if the transmission is broken we will replace the transmission and give you a loaner, free of charge because the manufacture would cover the cost.

This was a gut wrenching moment in my life that i will remember for a long time. For the first time, i experienced how shitty car dealerships can be to people. And now i understand why everyone always says dealerships are assholes.

I had this same problem with an old jeep. It was not a kink in the pump hose, but the nozzle getting too close to the wall of the gas tank and causing some splash back. I solved the problem by just lifting the nozzle out of the tank by about a half inch. Never had the problem again after that.

Ever since they found out that raw gas venting in to the atmosphere was bad they sealed gas tanks from the outside atmosphere. But that caused the need to manage the air pressure in the gas tank as temperature/altitude/fuel level etc. changed. This purge control valve keeps the pressure controlled and vents excess pressure. Usually this solenoid has gone bad.

That’s why they say remove your gas cap slowly, so if there is too much pressure no gas sprays at you.

Vent hose is clogged or kinked is my bet. The last section of filler neck is usually steel and in Canada they rust out from spray off the wheel. The vent rots out, fills with mud and crud and can't vent air fast enough to displace the gasoline. Also super bad for your car because now mud and crud is going into your gas tank.

There is a relief in the fill line that can get clogged. Try pulling the nozzle slightly back from fully inserted. I stress slightly as you can just dump gas all over the ground. Pulling it out a bit may help it let air in and avoid the issue.

When I bought my first new car last year, I was pleasantly surprised. The guy started off talking mostly to my husband, who, to be fair, had memorized the couple of models we wanted to look at. As soon as he detected that it was going to be my car, he completely shifted focus and pretty much ignored my husband. He was young, so maybe there's hope!

When I got my car I needed a co-signer, I was 18 and making $600 a month at school (had a good savings to afford the car). The old fart kept assuming my dad would co-sign because my mom couldn’t possibly have good credit, any idea of how to buy a car or anything like that.

My husband didn't believe that it happened to me until we went to get my car worked and I started asking about their oil. They kept on half explaining it to me, straight up talking down to me and patronizing me until I brought up the name of the guy that takes their oil and explained that I worked there..for some reason the change in his attitude was able to resonate with my husband and he realized that the nice trusted guys he was used to working with were actually sexist jerks.

I ride motorcycles and I picked my new mechanic because it was pushing distance from my home. I have been pleasently suprised by them. One or two older men have more of a kindly oldman sexism, where by they give me free oil changes because "lady drivers treat their rides nicely".

Yeah I agree. In my experience, there’s a lot of sexism in car dealerships (in sales and in service.) It’s infuriating. I brought a (male) friend with me once when buying a car just so I’d have someone to help me with negotiation tactics (for example, someone to say to me, “Come on, let’s go to the Honda dealership and check out the new Civic instead.”) The sales guy talked to my friend and not to me the entire time. We ended up going to another dealership for the same company just because I was enraged with this guy. My sales person there ended up being a woman who used to work for other sales guy and hated him. She gave me a good deal.

I’m lucky to have a mechanic who treats me the same as male customers. He gives me real talk about what needs doing and when, and asks how much I know about a specific part or system before explaining the issue, so as to avoid mansplaining. I greatly appreciate it.

The sexism surrounding women and cars is wild. Years ago I went with 3 others to Italy (we are from the Netherlands) and 40 km into Germany the car stopped working. When trying to start it it would sound like there was a huge rock inside the engine. The following morning we could finally get it looked at at a garage and these guys were laughing while pushing the car and telling me it was probably the battery. I told them it wasn't but they just ignored me.

When they finally tried to start the car inside the work shop and heard the sound they stopped telling me it was the battery and the car turned out to be total loss.

The majority of readers in here at any given time are men who spend hours in here just salivating for the chance to tell women they are wrong, no matter the subject. Its what they do instead of having actual relationships with women.

I've had the same problem. After having so many condescending things said and repairs take longer/cost more I have always thought I would love to be able to hire a guy to take in my car/have them deal with the dealerships. If anyone wants to develop this as an app please let me know.

It’s hard to tell sometimes. There are dealerships out there that are just so all around shitty that it really doesn’t matter who you are, they’re just shitty. But I suspect that there are many, many more that aren’t shitty all the time, just with women. So as a guy, you know this shit happens to you too from time to time, and know it happens to women way more often, but you don’t know if this particular dealership is full of sexist shits or just regular shits.

Based on OP's story it really seems like they assumed they were some dumb customer. Gender may have had something to do with it but generally if someone came to you saying that they couldn't pump gas and you never heard of this problem coming up again, wouldn't you assume the person is just dumb? Of course this doesn't pan out for them as there is a real problem. But I would guess that if some guy showed up saying that his car wouldn't pump gas, they would have done something similar, although I'm not certain that they would send someone to show them. I see that being something related to chivalry or some excuse that would effect the final outcome.

This is my exact thought. Everyone in this world is stupid. If some old person says their computer is broken you're going to assume that don't know what they're talking about and it's some small thing that they're doing wrong. They probably get hundreds of people coming in every month complaining about the dumbest things and nothing actually isn't wrong most of the time.

Oh bullshit! Your husband gets it also, just maybe not at the mechanic. Instead it will be the little crafty jewelry shop just off Main Street when you're on your vacation somewhere and he's trying to surprise you with some earrings or whatever.

Just the other day I was at Hobby Lobby and the lady in the fabric dept gave me some "womansplaining" when I asked her what material something was.

So yeah, it happens to all customers, just not always at the same place of business.

That is true. EXCEPT that it happens to women more. Because there are far more male-run industries still. That said, it kills me when men are made uncomfortable in places like yarn shops or craft stores. Or male teachers. Such a shame.

OP, I had a car that would do something similar. If I put the nozzle all the way in, the pump would click off after a couple drops. The only way I could fill that damn car up was to insert the nozzle just enough so it would go in the tank and not spill out.

I understand that feeling though. My son got into Motocross and as a single mom I had to learn how to work on his bikes. I can’t tell you how many times I go into the parts store to get parts and the guys behind the counter would ask for my husband. I would politely explain in a very sarcastic way that he wouldn’t be of any help since I was doing the work and he was dead. Just because we have boobs doesn’t mean they get in the way of doing manly jobs/tasks

I get this kind of thing all the time, I understand how infuriating this can be. I work in a male dominated industry and whenever I bring up an issue, it has to be examined and tested to make sure that's actually happening. Like, I'm not an idiot. Just believe me the first time.

Edit: it's not only a problem in the workplace, either. My dad and brother do it as well.
something's wrong with your car/stove/whatever 'are you sure that's actually happening? It's probably 'bullshit excuse'.."

Yeah probably not. I work with mostly men and experience the same. It definitely feels like sexism to me, even if they’re not doing it intentionally doesn’t mean it still isn’t. Sometimes I have to just walk away because I can’t take it anymore.

It's really hard for me having worked in IT for a few years. I had so many circumstances where both male and female coworkers would put in a ticket for something that (especially to me) was a blatently obvious fix. I am not talking the "oh....you haven't defragged your hard drive in a year because you disabled the auto defrag I setup" obvious fixes....which aren't quite obvious to people who don't take computers seriously. I am talking the "your keyboard/monitor/computer stopped working because it is unplugged" kind of thing.

For either sex I handled it exactly the same way. Is it plugged in to the computer, is the computer plugged into the wall, is the computer connected to the wifi? These always seemed so pandering to me as I asked them and the males I talked to always seemed to handle them fine. They would check and I would hear "oh shit nevermind" or something and boom problem solved. However, it always seemed like I was offending the female coworkers with the exact same questions. I don't think I used a tone that was different or anything either.

I don't know if I just was falsely perceiving annoyance that I would ask routine questions, but I wish there was a better way to make it clear, at least in IT, 90% of the problems I looked at were user error. I assume the same thing is true with things like OP's situation of the "gas pumping" issue. I put that in quotation to emphasize how OP was being viewed not to reflect my own personal emphasis.

To be clear I can't believe they didn't check the fuel lines the first time even with doubts to the legitimate nature of the problem. You are supposed to just do your job and they didn't.

I don't know if this made sense the way I wanted it to, but I'll throw it in here. I guess just because now I am worried that I really was offending my ex female coworkers and came across as sexist.

Not car related but I did my bachelors degree in 3D Design (as in a more creatively free and workshop based Product Design degree) and I would go to a popular English (I’m UK based) hardware store with a big orange logo and aprons.
A few times when I popped in to grab anything (from tools to sheet materials) I would ask for a specific product and be subjected to a 10 minute explanation about how my choice was wrong and on one occasion was I sure that’s what my husband requested I pick up.
If I’d seen the episode of Park and Recs at that time I would’ve channeled my inner Ron Swanson and told the male staff “I know more than you”. Bloody infuriating. Once I was even in full workshop wear, full overalls and steelies and I think I even had goggles round my neck.

Yeah it’s unfortunately not an uncommon thing at all, a bit counterintuitive but when you’re raised in an environment that promotes the supposed inferiority of women, it infects the women too, even if subconsciously, not just the men

It’s very common, I have seen a great interview of a woman CEO saying she doesn’t want to have female colleagues. I think the problem isn’t only male are sexist, it’s a general behaviour from everyone toward woman.

Edit: I have so many questions about this. Like do you just pay a use fee or do you pay by like litre of air? Or is it a timed thing, like you get 30secs of air for X amount of money? I'm so curious/confused.

In the U.S. gas stations usually have a machine that can either vacuum the interior of your car or put air in (or take it out of) your tires. I tried doing it myself first yesterday (first time alone and wasn't sure what I was doing) and it was $1.50 for five minutes, but this was a fancy one with a card reader. In previous years I've had other people help me do it, it was cash only, and I think a little less. But still x amount for y number of minutes.

Eh, this varies by state. It's not uncommon to pay for the vacuum; they have special, higher powered ones at the self serve car wash. But for putting air in your tires, a lot of places offer it for free. Some states make it mandatory to offer free air, though I don't know how common that is. I usually just take my car to the dealership where we bought it; they've never charged me.

Where I live some places it is free but others make you pay ($1) for unlimited use, however if you NEED air they always give it away for free because you being broken down in the lot loses more money than they make off of air.

Generally if you own a bicycle (or a soccer ball) you also own a bicycle pump which will cost you like $6 at the local hardware store. Air pumps at gas stations are almost exclusively for cars and motorcycles.

There are also gas stations here that offer free air and honestly, I can’t recall ever going to one that didn’t also have water and a squeegee/bucket for the windshield. A service station is actually just another name, among others, for a gas station. (:

It's not everywhere. There's 5 gas stations in my town and they all have free air. Every gas station i've ever been at has water & squeegee. They have an air pressure gage you can borrow from the cashier as well.

But America being driven by capitalism, some places have opted to monetize the air. Probably justified by the initial cost of the equipment, and the electrical usage to keep it running.

I'd call water/air a service they offer. Plus a lot of them outside of metro areas are mechanics as well. But I get what you mean, if you expect service as in some one pumping the petrol for you, you'd be shit out of luck.

I don't know if it's a state thing or what, but here in California it's the law that they have to give you free air if you ask for it. So a lot of the pumps will still have the option to pay, but if you go in and ask them to turn the pump on they will. I have always had bad luck with tires so I've probably had to do this hundreds of times at the gas station.

Also in the US.... if you buy gas, they are required by law to turn it on for you for free. But I've asked at places where I haven't bought gas, and never once have they not turned it on. The only reason to pay is if you don't want to talk to a human.

In US here. I've only ever encountered pay for time devices. The station around the corner charges $1.00 for a preset amount of time. It's usually plenty enough to top all my tires, but it's much more convenient to use the air compressor at work for free :)

I'm copying my comment from above: I don't know if it's a state thing or what, but here in California it's the law that they have to give you free air if you ask for it. So a lot of the pumps will still have the option to pay, but if you go in and ask them to turn the pump on they will. I have always had bad luck with tires so I've probably had to do this hundreds of times at the gas station.

Assuming OP is American, some gas stations are free and some aren’t. Most of the chains in my area charge a small fee but the small mom and pop places tend to be free. The places that charge are usually on a timer, like $1 for 5 minutes or something like that

The gas station I used to work at had a fee for air. There was a slot in it for $1 coins and it would last a few minutes. But we also had a button inside that would make the machine start; probably for cases when the machine eats their loonie and doesn't start. I'd always just hit the button for people when they would come in to ask for change, or complain about it (so long as they weren't rude to me), or if they asked my help to put in the air. It was such a cheapskate move to charge for air!

A lot more places in the US used to have free air, but in the last 20 years having to pay has become a lot more common. Basically everywhere charges, but a chain that has been gaining popularity lately (Sheetz) always has free air. Hopefully they keep being successful and other chains follow.

Costco will do it for free as well, they don’t check for membership so I assume anybody would be able to. I make sure to go at a slow time since I’m not actually paying for anything at the tire center.

Last time I went to Costco for tire service it took the entire morning. Had to wait in line for an hour just to talk to the guy at the counter. I love Costco to death but I’m never doing anything tire related there again.

My first car was an old beat up bmw from the early 80’s and I used to get this type of bullshit all the damn time. It had a pinhole sized leak in the transmission but it wasn’t a big enough to get replaced completely because it would be a waste of money on such an old car, so I would just fill my fluid when I felt it shifting differently.
Almost every single time I would have a man come up to me and say “you know you have to turn your car off before you check/add fluid right?”

No assholes!! It’s transmission fluid and the car needs to be on. Go away!

And I still would have people argue with me about it. Well guess what dip shits...I helped build my first car from practically nothing when I was 14 so go play out your damsel in distress fantasy elsewhere!

Male here, I own an independent euro car service shop. I have to tell you that when I get a couple that comes in on a complaint, if the female happens to initiate the complaint, speaking directly to her as opposed to differing to the male until otherwise directed has almost always yields a sincere thank you and return service. It blows my mind that folks in my industry assume women incapable of understanding engineering principals.

Oh, an OP, lift the pump out an inch or two and your problem will go away.

Probably the canister that absorbs vapors from the gas tank ( part of the pollution control system) . I can’t remember what it’s called, but when it’s broken it causes that exact symptom - had to replace one in my daughters car. I’m sure one of the gear heads on here will know what it’s called.
Edit - previous poster called it an evap solenoid.

The dreaded wait to see if you fixed it or not. Takes a day or two to find out. Had an evap problem once. Turned out not to be an evap problem, but a small rust hole in the filler neck. I finally figured it out when the hole got big enough that gas spilled on the ground when i was filling up. (Wouldnt be caught dead in a hyundai tho)

I’m always stunned how sexist car shops are willing to be. I make the vast majority of financial decisions in my family and one day took my husband to test drive a minivan. I had him drive it first because I like to get a feel for the car before I focus all my attention on operating it, and when I asked to switch drivers the salesman was clearly shocked I wanted to try it out too. I was curious why he thought any co-owner of a car would NOT want to try driving it, and beyond that, why he thought a man (since we’re being sexist and all) would be the daily driver of a minivan.

I had a random dude come up and ask me if I needed help putting air in my tires, while I was checking what the pressure was in each one. That’s only the first thing anyone learns how to do for their car’s maintenance. I was not amused.

I know a little bit about a little bit regarding cars. Enough that i can diagnose some issues, but I've told my boyfriend before if i'm on the side of the road with an issue, IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA FOR ME TO GET OUT AND START POPPING THE HOOD. Some guy is going to pull up and go, "Honey, do you need some help?" If i'm in a well-lit area with cameras and other people nearby, not such a problem. Side of the road in the middle of the night, I'd rather sit there inside my car and wait for someone i know to get to me than take my chances with a stranger.

I'm a female aviation student and my sister is a welder. Once gave my sisters car a jump. You wanna talk about unamused, ask a welder and a pilot if they know how to jump a car and see who gets more pissed off. Turns out, the welder. I kinda waved him off and she mean mugged the fuck outta him. She'd been living with two electricians for a while, too, so she'd heard more than enough shop talk to do something that basic.

I sat in a Verizon store for half an hour waiting for my turn with the clerk. Why so long? Because the clerk had to teach this 40 year old guy literally everything about his new iPhone. He didn’t know what WiFi was, or Bluetooth or how to open or close apps. On top of that, the guy needed to be told and shown four times for each thing.

Mechanics probably work with idiots several times a day. Maybe it was because they were being condescending towards you as a woman. Or maybe they just assumed you were as dumb as some of their other customers.

Try working in customer service. Customers are idiots, sometimes. After a while, you start assuming they are all idiots. It’s a safe assumption most of the time.

Yep can't pump your own gas in Jersey. I live in NY, about 50 miles outside the city, so I have to travel through Jersey to get anywhere basically and we usually fill up on the turnpike because the gas is cheaper.

I’ve worked many many customer service positions. The first thing you do is verify the issue. If it is a particularly common issue or something that is likely user error, it’s really really easy to verify. If you assume your customer is automatically wrong it makes you look like the jackass most of the time. Verifying the issue also means you can offer an adequate teaching response because it lets you see the actual steps the person is likely taking.

You have no idea how many times I had to teach some of the tech guys about their own Land Rover vehicles they were fixing. Customer would come in and complain and I had to tell them yes this is an issue I’ve seen and it shouldn’t do this. Employees can be idiots sometimes too. Don’t ever assume all customers are or are not idiots.

I had one service advisor ask me what was wrong with my dads Nissan Versa. He asked how I knew that, and I told him because I worked in a dealership and I’ve done customer service. He seemed shocked because “most customers don’t know what’s wrong with their vehicles and describe with sounds.” I’m like yeaaaa I’m not your typical customer. Then he comes around and tells me the vehicle is out of warranty because it’s at 63k miles. I’m like nuuuhhhh. It’s got 53k. If you peek in away from the sun glare, vehicle is still under warranty.

This. I worked customer service (retail) for years. A lot of customers were dumb, but there were absolutely times were the computer messed up a sale or an employee scanned the wrong item. It does happen and that's why listening is key. (Even to the dumb ones. You'll wanna remember their dumb remarks for the bar later.)

Amen brother. As a tech myself, customers come in with non existent problems all the time that can be explained, typically by something they are doing wrong. 9/10 it’s like that. But it’s our duty to check anyway to make sure that 1/10 customer is taken care of with that rare legitimate crazy situation. What the other people commenting don’t understand is that we push away several cars a day to clear space for real existing complaints that are verifiable or probable. There are a handful each day coming in with issues that just aren’t actually happening simply cause customers don’t understand how a car works. Sometimes we get overzealous in our assessment, in such we have a case like this woman and her refueling issue. Being in the industry, I understand why they did what the did, and they lost this gamble. What they also don’t understand is it’s very likely this dealer doesn’t have a gas fill up station. That means the tech is going to use his credit card to verify this complaint? Hell on he’s not! Or is he going to find his unreachable service manager that is busy dealing with other mad customers and wait 45 mins to get the store card? As a flat rate tech? Or is he just going to gamble that the lady doesn’t know what she’s doing which honestly is right more times than wrong and make money elsewhere? There are a lot of reasons besides sexism to lead to this outcome. This turned into a rant with a bad ending. The end

If it hasn't been fixed yet, a potential remedy for the issue might be rotating the nozzle upside down from the normal position. For whatever reason my Corvette doesn't like the nozzle being in the usual position. Same thing, clicks off after 1-3 seconds, but if I stick the nozzle in upside down it works fine and stops when full like usual, just a little more awkward holding it.

If it makes you feel any better, they'd probly do the same thing for most guys too. Most of the auto sales and auto repair industry just assumes you're completely oblivious about the inner workings of your car, or even basic functions of your car. So unless you are able to speak intelligently over your car and specifically over possible issues you think it could be, they most likely wont take you or your word seriously.

I ran a maintenance section in the Army, and would frequently have chiefs come tell me their comms are down again for some reason, only to have my commo guy come back 45 minutes later fuming that the chief had rearranged all the cables, shorted the system for the 3rd time, and spent the entire 45 minutes he was fixing it blaming him for being a bad commo guy who wasnt fixing it right.

My point is, regardless of gender, at a certain level of expertise in a field, everyone outside your field starts looking like your grandma who doesnt know how to open internet explorer on her computer. It doesnt make it right, but it does, in a way, make sense from their perspective.

This is being a but positive, as the automotive industry does have a LOT of dudes who just assume women dont know shit about cars. But at the same time, having had an inside view on the other end of the conversation, theres often more to it than just seeing gender.

I mean, I've worked customer service and dealt with my fair share of stupidity, but filling a gas tank? I mean, unless you're like 16 and mom and dad always fill up your tank for you, odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that you've learned to do a fundamental step in driving your car for any length of time.

That's kind of my point. From the customer side, you feel you have a solid idea of what your car does, how it's used, etc. Most actually do, but some REALLY dont. Theres some really, really stupid people out there. And as a mechanic you see everyone. After a while you dont see the person, you just see a vehicle and maybe some partially useful notes from the owner. With odd faults like that, you end up weighing whether that really odd fault is actually there or is this person just doing it wrong. And honestly, if we were to look at the stats, most times it comes down to operator error.

It's a very similar thing to what happens in the medical field. My wife's talked to me extensively about doctors and nurses she works with who just write off the comments of the patient on what they think is wrong because they've had so many people either give bad guidance thats actually hindered the process and wasted time, or straight lied for whatever reason.

It isnt right in either application but it's an easy pit to fall into. The best and most effective way of dealing with both cars and patients is to listen as best you can and try to translate that into what you need to know for your expertise. But, that's harder to do, and just going off what your gut says is more efficient.

And sidenote, the more I think on it, the proper process to begin any troubleshooting is to recreate the fault in front of the mechanic. So they were wrong in not doing that to start with before telling OP it was good to go.

My point in all this is just to consider that there's always more than there seems to be, and to give people the benefit of the doubt. Some people are definitely shitbags that are being misogynistic. But most people are usually just jaded and trying to get through the day. After working your ass off day in and day out, it's easier to just say, 'well it's probably just another idiot', than to do the real work. Which is again, not right, but also nothing worse than just being a flawed human being as we all are. So I guess all I'm trying to do in commenting is bring some grounding into the conversation and slow the angry mob a bit. Lifes hard for everyone and villanizing people for their errors typically doesnt help the group or the individual in the long run.

I doubt this is sexism. As someone in retail, we all follow one rule: assume everyone is an idiot because they usually are. I'm sure they've gotten plenty of people saying the same thing, but they just didn't know how to pump.

While the other people at the gas stations probably meant well, what the dealership did was still a dick move. Pretend they checked, say nothing’s wrong, but not actually check until a day later with the client right there? It may not be sexism, but it’s pretty sleazy customer service.

Ok, how about before you jump to sexism, you try and understand it from their point. If they were convinced that there wasn't a problem then they more than likely dont ever see the issue you had. That added to the fact that they get more incompetent and non-auto savy people than any other place would suggest they aren't being sexist, you're being ignorant.

I don't think it's sexism, I think the mechanic shop assumed it was user error and your gender had nothing to do with it. Some people just don't normally pump their own gas, so they are ignorant of how to pump their own gas.

This is a joke right? Now I'm sexist just because I think something isn't sexist. Fucking lol

If you're a women, and someone treats you like you're dumb, that means they're be sexist, or they just treating you like you're dumb? You realized this kind of behavior is common in mechanics - man or women right?

When I had my Fiat, it used to do this exact thing, and I don't know if it was a coincidence, but when I was pumping gas, all I did was turn the handle of the pump sideways and that for some reason made it stop doing that.

I sell phones and I treat everyone like they’re a fucking idiot who has no idea what they’re doing. Maybe it wasn’t a gender thing, but a “most humans are idiots” thing? At least we can hope that’s the case.

Edit: To clarify, 99.9% of the errors I see ARE user errors and I genuinely get surprised when something is actually wrong, too, haha.

Yea, if someone came up to me with this problem I'd assume it was a specific gas pump or just user error and them them that right away. If they insisted I wouldn't say we'll check it out and then not. They totally wasted her time because they didn't do their due diligence.

I think it is fair to point out (as a trades person), that we generally think people can't wipe their in the morning. I doubt it was sexist, more that what at face value seems stupid probably is. It is also difficult because if say you actually didn't know how to pump gas you'd be infuriated at the charge. They are just bad business people for not checking....

I don’t think it’s sexist. I’m sure people would look at me funny too. I’ve never heard of that problem so the natural thing is to think it’s user error. One of those “I need to see it to believe it.” things.

I’m sorry you had to through that. I had this exact problem in my Audi. In fear it wouldn’t do that when I took it in. I filmed it. Turned out it was some pressure sensor thing or some valve that wasn’t releasing the air/gas forcing the pump to think it was full. They also asked me if I knew how to pump gas in the car I had for 5 years. I’m a male.

Had this same problem with the ranger I drove for Napa. Took them almost two years to finally fix it. People would always give me weird looks at the gas station and one guy that was doing maintinence on the pumps told me I shouldn't keep topping it off because it would just leak out and then stopped the pump on me...

i don't think this was down to sexism. work customer service long enough and anyone who seems like they don't know most likely don't. obviously yeah you're gonna have the ones who actually aren't but at one point you'd really just start assuming that any person regardless of gender is gonna be stupid

I'd like to say this may not be sexist, just a wierd coincidence. I've had my car do this as well (as a male) and basically the same story happen with the mechanic telling me I didn't know how to pump gas... It has also happened to my father with his boat which does the same thing to this day. Honestly I think it's just such a wierd problem that most people would just like to chalk it up to being user error and get on with their day... Could still be sexism but, maybe not.

Your evaporator canister vent tube may be plugged with mud. Or the evaporator canister is over saturated with fuel vapor and that's what's causing the clicking. Those mechanics should be ashamed that they couldn't figure that out.

Edit: I mean there could be other factors also which may not be related to the evaporator canister, but it's not like you suddenly forgot how to pump gas after owning this vehicle for as long as you have. I hate hack, uneducated mechanics. Drives me nuts.

Also it sounds like maybe theres a filter or sieve in the pipe for the gas and its restricting the flow, thus the gas pump shuts off and then will pump again after the gas manages to filter through. Just my guess, never worked in fiats.

The car dealership most likely didnt do it to be sexist. Whatever the technician said or people at a gas station say is up to your own interpretation. They most likely had a mechanic shine a light in the pipe, couldnt see anything out of place, and just figured you didnt know what you were talking about (not because youre a woman, just because alot of people dont have common sense)

My car has the occasional rattle when I start it. Ive had technicians tell me 2 times that I was hearing things and dont actually attempt to recreate the problem.

Girl here. Have driven a couple older cars. I've found if i can go into a parts shop or mechanic and be able to rattle off the basic info on my car then I don't get as much bullshit.

Ladies, if you walk into a shop or parts store and don't know anything other than what brand and model car you drive, you are in for a bad time. Had a coworker once that didn't even know what year her car was.

I had a coworker who only knew that her car was silver. 😂 Brilliant scientist, just left the cars to her husband.

Generally agree with your advice, as a lady myself. Thankfully I usually avoid the mechanic/parts bullshit by doing my own work and buying most of my parts online. It’s funny, dealers and generic places like AutoZone are definitely worse about how they treat women, whereas when I was calling a bunch of performance parts companies a few months ago looking for very specific brake pads, the guys were super happy to chat with me about it, no bullshit.

I mean, most of the time, they kinda don't? Idk I find it more likely if you ask one of your male friends how to change a tire or do basic maintenance on their car they'll probably know a thing or two, ask a woman and they probably won't. Just in my personal experience with my friends though not saying it's ALL women

I love people who think this way, because as a female who has done everything from motor and trans swaps to rebuilding blocks and heads on Subarus and Mitsubishis, it's hilarious how dumb people look when they figure out I know what I'm talking about

I mean actually they kind of do. I'm a woman and I could change my tires, oil, and battery and jump a car at the age of 16. All self-taught. You don't know what you're talking about and you shouldn't pretend to know.

More likely for men to know than women, yes, but the overall rate of competence is still exceedingly low. I know plenty of men who can’t check their own oil, can’t change wiper blades, don’t know how to use jumper cables, certainly couldn’t handle changing a tire...and they’re not resourceful enough to figure it out. Even within enthusiast car groups, you see people asking truly dumb fucking questions that their manual will answer in 2 seconds but they can’t figure it out without help.

I’m not saying there isn’t bias against women in the car world - there is - just that in this case it’s likely not the only factor. I was filling up at the gas station in front of my apartment once when I saw a couple having trouble with their car, and it was something I could easily help them with, I just needed to get the car off the ground. I went over and offered by assistance but told them I’d need to go get a jack and tools. They absolutely could not understand I wasn’t talking about a father or uncle named Jack, and that it would be me, a female, wrenching on their car. Similarly, when I take my cars to car shows, I get a lot of people asking if it’s my husband’s car and utter shock that I somehow managed to drive a manual transmission sports car. 🙄 It’s just that in OP’s case, while being female definitely doesn’t help her case, the first 75% of their attitude at least is just because so many customers of any gender are morons.

Men are more likely to invent a way instead of saying they don’t know. Often, they approach women doing these things the correct way and try and give a lecture based on their invented procedure. Want to experiment? Have two women help a third woman jumpstart her car in a parking lot, you will get many many opinions and several of them will encourage you to do things that might cause serious bodily or property damage.

I agree, but what's frustrating is that when you say "I know ________." there's a subgroup of men that just do. not. listen. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence in this thread about women taking their car in for service only to have some guy in the service department assume that they don't know how to drive a manual or pump gas. PUMP GAS! These stories all have the same issues. Guy makes assumption. Woman tries to clarify that assumption is wrong. Guy ignores woman. Guy later realizes assumption was wrong. I would say, about half the time, the assumption isn't the bad part; it's the not listening part that's sexist bullshit.

I'm sorry, but if I was that tech, it wouldn't matter if you were a woman, a man, a child, or a MENSA member, if you described the problem to me I would assume user error as well. It's just Occam's razor.
Hopefully they change their attitude with you.

The people at the gas station calling you 'honey' and shit are legitimately aggravating

If you paid ANYTHING for the “work” they did the first day, be adamant about NOT paying another cent for the repair.
IT’S THEIR MISTAKE and the repair now should be done at no charge to you.
Some states have laws about this.

Had the same thing happen with my hand-me-down '02 Pontiac Vibe. Dealt with it for about a year then traded her in! Luckily, no one ever "honey"d me at the gas station (ugh), but people did always look at me weird. 🙄

It was because there is a lever you pull to unlock the door to the gas hole (such terminology), and someone damaged the area while breaking in to siphon gas out (busted out a window and everything, thanks my dudes!). Assuming their siphoning broke something within the tank, or whatever sets off the "I'm full" click for the pump. (More detailed terminology, such smarts.)

Lol I was in a similar situation where the engineer was using a bunch of jargons to explain why my wifi was shit in certain areas of my house. And when I told him I had no clue what he was saying, he just said "ugh, let me talk to a guy."
As if any one who's a make would just understand jargons used by engineers

My favorite moment...I unexpectedly and quickly had to buy a new used car. Just before purchase I told them the car sounds funny and the oil must not have been thoroughly changed and it's now burning oil to the point the engine is going to be messed up if not fixed ASAP. Thet owed me a full oil purge , filter and fill of new oil. The guy told me oh no, it's a 4 cylinder in a larger car so it is just louder because it works harder. I said he was essentially full of it and needed to grab his manager. While he did that, I grabbed my hubby (who knows nothing about cars). My hubby told the org employee and the manager, "you really need to look at the truck, I have seen my wife change the suspension, oil, tires, wheel bearings, and shocks on a previous vehicle, I am inclined to think she knows what the f*** is up"....guess who was right? The apology came w. what I org. asked for, a full detail, and a new battery, 'just in case'. I still took it to a pre check with a off lot mechanic just in case but all was fine.

The car runs great given it's used, just needs to get oil changes regularly and topped off in the summer. But the fact that I had to grab my hubby to be taken seriously...I feel your pain and the special level of mansplaining. My hubby was shocked and doesn't question or laugh off my irritation with these type of moments. He'll even hand me the check or survey to take care of in front of employees that treat me poorly just to see the "oh sh**" face.

I definitely understand where you're coming from, my first car did the exact same thing and I occasionally had men come up to me and try to correct my gas pumping.

But I've also worked in customer service for a long time, and let me tell you that most people in that line of work generally assume that people are only 20% paying attention to what they're doing. I've seen some customers do some really dumb shit, and I myself have also done dumb shit.

While I don't doubt that some sexism played a role in your experiences with this, and while I definitely can understand how infuriating it is to be talked down to as a woman, another facet of this is that it's hard not to assume that MOST customers are idiots, regardless of gender.

I constantly have this problem, the sort of sexist assumptions- even coming from my dad [mechanic]. I'm used to having shitty car problems and can usually detect/diagnose my own issues but when I bring it up to my dad he assumes nothing could be wrong with the perfectly "fine" vehicle he has my driving around. Or if I have my hood popped some creeper comes out of now were to see if I need a jump. My radiator has a huge crack on the resivour. This is no electrical problem, now go spark elsewhere.

I would definitely be having a chat with the service manager, including asking him (or her, but surely it'll be a him based on your experience so far) what they're going to do to make this up to you. I made a dealership detail my van after they borked a visit (I booked it for a recall, and after leaving it, they called to say they didn't have the fix yet--what part of "I'm booking it in for recall xyz-123" wasn't clear?).

Decide what you want before you start the conversation, but let them offer first. Maybe they'll offer something better...

When I was in high school (about 16), the car I drove started making that awful jerky pumping feeling ABS makes, but much more pronounced. It was a warm day and I had braked normally, not suddenly, at a relatively low speed. I was going downhill at the time toward a very busy road, so I was worried that if it happened again the brakes might fail and I’d be in serious danger. I immediately got myself home and told my dad. He and I took the car to the dealer (I drove his car and he drove mine) and he had me explain to them what happened. They peeked at the brakes from the outside, said they’re fine, and I must have just stomped on the pedal too hard. They implied heavily that I was lying or else didn’t know what I was talking about. My father, thankfully, stood up for me and insisted that an employee take it for a test drive. The manager ended up doing so and came back immediately to say that the brakes needed to be replaced right away. They showed us the brake pads afterward—they were worn all the way through, visible holes, and the manager said he was shocked that no one had gotten hurt. It was in a spot that isn’t easily seen if they just look in through the wheel well like they usually do. When I remember this interaction, I have a tendency to want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it wasn’t because i was a girl, but ultimately they didn’t take me seriously until my dad stepped in. I could have died because they didn’t believe me, and who knows who I could have killed in the process.

Sounds like a collapsed or clogged gas tank filler hose to me. In order for gas to get into the tank air must escape. If the filler hose is collapsed then gas will build up in the hose and cause the gas pump at the gas station to stop pumping gas.

Not mansplaining, have you tried putting the nozzle in upside down? My car has this issue and that usually stops it, like 100% of the time. It looks ridiculous but it works so that makes it not ridiculous.

Sounds like there is to much gas pressure in the gas tank or filler neck. The gas tank is supposed to be able to release this pressure using its evaporative emission system. When a tank is full this gas pressure is what causes the "click" and the pump to stop as the liquid fuel fills up to the top of the tank and the pressure inside increases. The filler neck should have a "breather" tube to allow fumes to circulate back into the tank and promote air flow. If it is blocked or otherwise not working properly it could cause your issue. The staff at the dealership should not have treated you this way. A more productive approach would have been to verify your concern first. If this had been done they would have known something was wrong from the beginning simply buy taking it to a full station themselves and testing it. It's the first step of any competent technicians approach "Verify the customers concern". I myself am a service Advisor at a dealership and a former technician.

When you get the diagnosis can you let me know what the issue was? This happened to my car(mini cooper) but the dealership basically said they had to see it to diagnose it and they couldn't get it to replicate. I wound up trading it in. I definitely feel like mechanics talk down to women. I've had my car for X amount of years/miles, trust me i know what isn't normal.

If you stick the nozzle in and wait before you pump gas, or pull the trigger about half way you can normally still fill a tank doing this. Something in the evap system is clogged so it needs to release air through the filler neck.

It's suggested that when pumping gas, do not pull the pump lever all the way allowing full flow of gas out of the nozzle. This is for several reasons, one is for exactly what you're experiencing, it can cause the fuel to create a back up of vapor that will trip the safety shut off in the pump handle and make filling up a pain in the ass.

In college, my friend's ex boyfriend had hubcaps he collected from the side of the road hanging on the wall. When he was giving me a tour of his apartment he explained to me, like you would a child, that these were things that went on car wheels. I told him that just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I don't know what a fucking hubcap is. His face went bright red and he apologized profusely.

He had a habit of talking down to women. My friend dumped him not long after and I was very happy for her

My old truck use to do this. I could only squeeze the handle about 1/4-1/3 of the way, and it would go nonstop without shutting off. I don't think i could even use the pump handle lock on the lowest setting without it shutting off. It worked for a while after a tune up, but then it did it again. :/

If I remember correctly, if you barely put the nozzle in (yikes), it will work. Something about the gas vent not working. Anyway, good luck. I hope you find a mechanic that isn't a sexist asshole.

Yeah, it’s stupid that they assumed that you can’t pump gas, but, to their credit, they may have been wanting to make sure that the problem wasn’t easily fixable before performing diagnostics that could take time or money. Once again, though, stupid of them to assume you don’t know cars 101

So in order to save some of their time in the "unlikely" event, they kept the customers car for an entire day doing nothing with it other than deprive the owner of using their property? Because their 10 minutes is certainly worth far more than her 24 hours, right?

And were going to just let her drive it off without actually doing anything until she pressed the issue, so the plan was to let her take it home and come back to them after the next time she puts gas in it so they can save their time in that "unlikely event". So their 10 minutes is worth her making multiple trips over multiple days to them?

You must really think mechanics are absolute selfish assholes to come to that bizarre conclusions from the provided information.

I have the exact same problem! 31-year old female here, I have a Fiat Punto, 16 years old, and I got so used to the filling problem that I don't even think about it anymore. Still get lots of curious looks at the gas station...

I had this problem with my 2012 Ford Flex. They said it was because spiders like to nest on the sensor that tells you whether your tank is full or not and said it was a common problem I think that is bullshit

My 2005 Prius does the same thing. It’s got a bladder tank. It’s only happened to me in the summer and I think the tank kinda folds in a weird way sometimes that makes the pump think it’s full. Also, I’m a lady and I hate when I have to go to a new mechanic and they treat me like I don’t know what I’m talking about. Thankfully I have someone great for all things non hybrid related and let’s just say I’ve learned a lot about working on the hybrid portion of my car in my garage.

Petrol pumps have a saftey feature that cut off the pump when pressed in too far and thats the clicking sound.. it stops people wedging something on the trigger to hold it in. Old pumps or even shite pumps have less give making it almost it impossible to get a good flow going before it clicks.. did the mechanic take it to the same petrol station as you?

I don’t think diagnostics will find it. Did they look at the metal flap that pushes to the side when you put in the gas nozzle? Or the seal? It sounds like the trapped air in the tank isn’t able to flow out like it’s supposed to and the gas going in is getting pushed back. They need to physically check the parts from where the nozzle goes in all the way to the tank. Edit: I just thought of something else. Ask them to scope it if they don’t find a defect. You never know. Their could be a pebble stuck in there.

Had the same problem with two 2002 Hyundai Accents. Had to pump gas VERY slowly or stand there and click-click-click the handle for ten minutes. It’s infuriating when they think women are so dumb as to not know how to pump gas! I’ve seen 6 year old kids pump gas for their parents!

I actually don't think the things they did are sexist. Maybe would they said to you... But I've gone to the dealership with certain complaints before that were never resolved because they either couldn't find the cause or they didn't actually try to reproduce it. Ultimately it comes down to shitty dealerships/employees not doing their job.

But your issue actually sounds like an issue I've been having with my jeep. It seemed like it only happened at certain pumps and not at others. Even at the same gas station it would work on half the pumps but not the others... Some of the comments here have made me rethink things.. I was thinking it was the nozzles but maybe it has something to do with the location of the nozzle when it's inserted.

my car does this sometimes. Trick for me is to not put the nozzle in all the way. Only put it in like 3/4 of the way to "give it some room to breathe". And don't pull the trigger all the way either. IDK but it works.

This is actually a common problem in some vehicles the line going to your gas tank may be small and the pump shuts off when gas goes back into the nozzle so the pump is pushing gas so hard and fast that it doesnt have time to make it all the way to the tank which causes it to blow back.

Try holding the nozzle at different angles that will prob work for you.

wow, i went through a similar situation with my car, it is a 2002 Buick Le sabre custom, a over a year ago the brakes went out, now after the repair for a week the brake felt really good like they worked i didn't need to put my foot to the floor, well that changed after where the brake pressure started to vary a lot and i mean to the point of i press an inch worth of movement and it trips the abs sensors and other times it is like nothing is there and i literally have to put my foot to the floor to get it to stop. Well me being a resourceful person i start looking into how this might happen and news flash it is 1 of two things and that is either air is in the brake line and there is a hole in it somewhere or the master cylinder is going bad, well i just had the brake lines redone, along with pads and rotors so they are out of the question and that leave the master cylinder i take it to the dealer and pay for them to diagnose the problem just to erasure what i already knew and they found nothing well i call bulllshit on the fact that they looked at anything because nothing was changed on the internal side of things and the issue still proceeds, i hate when people don't take me seriously because i am a young (19) and know more then they do on topics.

This happened to our Prius recently. The gas station attendant said that when the car is old and it gets really empty [it wasn't really that empty], then sometimes this happens where the gas comes back out instead of going into the tank when the flow is too high.

What does this have to do with you being a woman? People are idiots and your dealership probably assumed you were one of them. Honestly you both seem to have not done even basic troubleshooting of the problem.

TIL don't help women in public who are doing things commonly associated with severely negative outcomes (e.g. gas splashing everywhere or fire, or permanent engine damage putting diesel in) because it will likely be interpreted as sexism.

What a clown world. This might blow your mind but men get unsolicited help when they're doing something that may be wrong, too.

How is this sexism? Anyone that does repairs/support always assumes you don't know anything - at least the good ones do. Like this is no different than getting on the phone with tech support and them asking if you turned it off and on again, which coincidentally fixes the problem 50% of the time. This primarily saves them time from trying to diagnose a non-existent issue.

"honey, that means it's full," which makes me want to light them on fire" - really someone offering help makes you want to commit murder? You sound like a peach.

Funny you should mention Fiat. I live in italy. I can assure you, i don't even have a driver license but i had to go and explain more than once to a woman how to pump gas or some other basic stuff. The answer is usually"i'm a woman i dont care about this stuff"(they declare this proudly). The answer both terrifies and makes me cringe inside. Makes me feel very sad for the woman in question.

Not so sure it's a sexist thing. I'm an older man. I have a new Mazda in which the USB connection stopped charging my phone. I told them it was a fuse (I knew when it blew because I plugged a faulty pump into the USB port). I don't charge my phone that much in the car so I dealt with it until I took it in for scheduled maintenance. It wasn't that big of a deal and I just didn't feel like messing with the fuse. When I got the car back there was a piece of paper in the car explaining why USB ports in cars might not charge phones. The next time I took it in I explained again to them that it was a fuse and that time they finally fixed it. I'm sure they never even checked it the first time.

Honestly the tech was probably trying to cover all the basics with you to be sure you two were on the same page. Given that you were at the dealer so long they probably were genuinely trying to help and solve the problem. This is not an issue for just you. It happens on all cars from time to time. Has to do with the pump not pumping correctly and screwing with the filling sensors. Happens to me about once a week with Mercedes. Hold the nozzle halfway out and you will be fine. Don't make every situation a sexist one. I work at a dealer and we aren't all scumbags. Most dealers just want to help...

Ok this is messed up but at the same time I've met people both male and female who couldn't use a soda fountain so I don't 100% blame the dealership for not believing you immediately it's not user issue

I guess this is as good a place as it's gonna be, I walked up to my friend, an attractive woman, who was getting a jump from a lady, who was either a wife or an ex wife. As I walk up I hear the lady say, I don't think you're doing that right. I asked her later why the lady didn't do it, my friend said "she said she didn't know how to do it."

Some men will think you don't know how to do things when they know how to do it, but some women will tell you you're doing wrong, even if they don't know how.

Two (females) workmates wanted to know where the nearest tyre dealership was. One thought she had a puncture the other was convinced the previous tyre dealship had sold them dud tyres.

They didnt realise they could put air into the tyres themselves. They thought it was something the tyre dealerships could only do.

At the same time I showed them how to pump petrol into their cars. This, they thought, was something the pump attendant could only do with training.

Not suggesting all women are incapable of doing this themselves. I've been confused about a device to prevent petrol being out in a car instead of diesel. The point is, there may be a good reason whey they may have tried to show you how to refuel.

While there are lots of idiots, people tend to assume women make up a disproportionate amount. Not experiencing it makes it harder to understand, but we get talked down to a lot and people pretty much never take your word for anything even when you’re knowledgeable about a subject. It’s not all the time but it is common and it’s extremely frustrating, so even if that wasn’t intentional sometimes it’s subconscious or will come off that way anyways.

The multiple men coming up to you to let you know the clicking means the tank is full are just trying to make sure you aren’t covered in fuel. It’s very common for idiots to keep forcing fuel into the tank in order to get a desired price amount (regardless of chromosome pairing). Its better for a stranger to risk insulting you than to say nothing and possibly have you covered in a flammable liquid. The way the dealership treated you is insane though.

Just to be fair, and I'm not saying this isn't what you are implying, but some mechanics like to do this to anyone they assume is a novice vehicle owner, regardless of gender. They frequently jump to conclusions about an issue they believe to be caused by user error, you end up paying for nothing, the problem persists.

Almost everyone I know has had problems with dealership mechanics. I don't know what that's about. But certain private shops will do this kind of crap too, so it pays in time to research the best shops, the ones who really care about their reputation.

I can put gas in it, but I have to stand there clicking the pump for 15 minutes to fill it up. I have had multiple men come up to me in gas stations and say, “honey, that means it’s full,” which makes me want to light them on fire.

See, if you were a guy, then the men would have just walked by you thinking, "What a fucking dumbass. That means it's full."

As far as people at the dealership... I doubt it was a "women are stupid" thing, and more of a "people are stupid" thing. I bet they have a lot of folks come in there with inane issues, which leads them to take more serious (but seemingly inane) issues lightly.

Not the best way to handle things as an employee, but, having spent five years in my youth in a customer service position dealing with the average person, it makes sense to me...

Dealers treat everyone like that. I had an issue with my car. I drove 2 miles from the dealership and the same problem came up, which means they didn’t even test drive it.

I work in a home improvement store with women and I hear a ton of men say sexist things, but not every problem with men is because of sexism. You’re 30 which means you probably look young to them so it could have been an age gap thing as well.